YouTube's New LGBT Campaign Has Been Attacked By Homophobic Trolls

22 June 2016, 12:59

By Charleyy Hodson

It's 2016 people - why is this still happening!?

Following the devastating fatal hate crime against 50 people in a gay/Latino club in Orlando this month, the planet has been in a state of shock and awe over the sheer amount of terror still thriving in 2016. Multiple YouTubers have spoke out about their fear as members of the LGBTQA+ community in addition to opening up many conversations about their protection at conventions such as VidCon after Christina Grimmie was killed after her own performance. But now, thanks to 4chan and a nasty trend of cyberbullying, YouTube's newest LGBT campaign has been attacked.

In the description below their new campaign #ProudToBe, YouTube have described their purpose; “YouTube is a place where anyone can belong no matter who they are or who they love. That is why today we want to help people honour and celebrate who they’re #ProudToBe”. The short video features both big and small time YouTubers from Dodie Clark and Troye Sivan to Gigi Gorgeous and Ingrid Nilsen and their emotional Coming-Out videos. The final product sees dozens of YouTubers joining together as a sign of solidarity and support for people wanting to discuss varying genders and sexual identities. You can see their beautiful message below.

However thanks to the notorious trolls over on 4chan, a website widely considered the "asshole of the internet", within hours of the #ProudToBe campaign going live it was spammed with hateful comments designed to trigger innocent viewers. The video, which has gathered 4.9 million views at the time of writing, has also received 152k dislikes and an avalanche of inappropriate messages aimed to belittle the gender and sexual identity of creators featured in the video.

Whilst 4chan's plan was to "trigger the sh*t out of these liberal f*cks", nothing seems to be keeping the LGBT community down as creators respond in their masses in support of YouTube and their heartwarming campaign. Looking at the description on the video as well, is it possible that YouTube anticipated the backlash? One of the most poignant lines reads: "We stand together with everyone who has the courage to own and share their identity. We stand together to show the power of solidarity, the power of love, the power of price". Hell yeah YouTube - don't let the trolls keep you down!

To the people who go out of their way to spread hate: I feel bad for you. You'll never understand love, tolerance, & acceptance. #ProudToBe

Want to find out if trolls have been going after any more of your favourite YouTubers? Check out our weekly SLAY or NAY episodes to catch up on all the latest YouTuber news and gossip, because lets be honest, you can't be everywhere at once and this is literally our job. We've got this covered.